Green Cheeked Conure Training

Green Cheek conures are one of most playful and intelligent conures out there. But they are known to be a little nippy.

When people have asked us for advice on getting birds not to bite, we begin by trying to get a little history of the bird. What quickly become apparent is the bird is not being worked with on a daily basis. The owners will ignore the bird for a few days, but then want to take the bird out to play. They get bit, get upset, and unintentionally “punish” the bird by putting it into “timeout”.

Unfortunately, this isn’t going to work with a Green Cheek. This breed of bird is very demanding and wants to be cuddled and played with. They bite for many reasons, but it’s very easy to teach them to stop with just a little patience and daily work.

STEP UP

The first step is to get the bird to step up on your finger and get used to being handled. In our e-Book The Easy Parrot System, we discuss some simple, step-by-step methods to finger train your bird. It should only take a few days to accomplish this.

If the bird is nipping at you during this state, begin to immediately teach him that it is unacceptable behavior by saying “NO BITE!” in a firm tone. When the bird steps up and behaves, give him lots of praise and offer a favorite treat like a nut or grape. Continue to do this every day, and you will soon teach your bird that if he wants to be with you he must learn not to bite.

Green Cheeks will learn this method! They are known to be a friendly bird and they want to be cuddled and played with. This trait is normally seen only in Cockatoos, and most conures are not this willing to be handled. But Green Cheeks are different. And if they want to play with you, they must learn to stop biting.

One other cause for biting is they have reached sexual maturity. Green Cheeks reach this point at about one year old. They become a bit more aggressive, and this will lead to their tendency to nit at your finger. Just reinforce your training. If it gets out of control, use the “time out” method and place the bird in its “discipline” cage located in another room. Try not to use its “home cage” for discipline because it will get confused. Remember, Green Cheeks are a little more intelligent then you think. You need them to understand that the “discipline” cage is because they acted badly. Otherwise, they will learn that if they want to go back to their “home” cage, they simply have to bite you. You are passing the wrong message to them!

Never strike your bird. I can certainly guarantee that from that point on you will never be able to train your bird.

Here are a few extra points. For more ideas check out our Ebook!

-Clip the wings before you begin training. You want to be in control of the bird, and if it can fly away you lose that control!

-Use constant praise and reinforcement. Keep a supply of treats handy

-Stay in control. Do not let your bird think you are afraid. Fortunately, these little guys bite does not do much harm to you, other than a painful pinch. Try to deal with it!

-When working with the bird, also teach it other simple tricks like lying on it’s back, playing dead, and playing catch with objects. A small foam ball works great for this.

-Work with the bird daily, preferably at the same time of the day. Sessions should be about 15 minutes at a time.

Once your bird has been tamed, you will find that he wants to stay with you most of the time. Use this to your advantage while training him. If you are watching TV, have him in your lap while you gently handle him. The constant human interaction will reinforce to him you are not a threat and he should not bite you.

hello, i just move to a new apt and my green cheeck and sun conure started to tear the molding apart,,,is there anything that i can do to prevent them from doing this,,,,,by the way there wing are not clipped.,,please help me….i realy dont want to clip there wings

I’m going through a divorce, I took (Frodo) my FEMALE Conure with me to an apartment. She seemed to be doing very well but this would be her second year laying eggs (thus how I found out she’s a she) but hasn’t. I had gotten to the point where she would stay with me most of the day on and off on my shoulder while I cleaned and arranged our new home. This has been going on for almost two months then the other day she she bit me hard on the nose and lip. Not only did she draw blood she layed my nose open on the top and bottom. I probably needed stitches because it kept bleeding for over four days.. I’m just trying to ensure that youre aware how hard she bit me. Since then I’ve been afraid and spend our time seperated. I never close her cage but talk to her through the bars, she’s shows little to no interest in coming to me beyound the open door and I’m not sure where to begin again with her. I don’t want this to change our friendship/my love for her. What do I do? I know that we won’t go back to kisses and snuggles but I’d like to learn how to properly rebuild. The finger method isn’t working or the NO Bite method. I’m completely lost and harboring some hurt feelings. Help us please

What does it mean when my conure sleeps all the time? I came home today and all my conure wanted to do was sleep. He/she even let my daughter hold him, when he usually doesn’t let her. The conure is about 4 years old.

i’ve just bought 2 x 12 weeks old green cheek conures and they were from an aviary, they run from me when i go near the cage, they dont come near me when i leave the cage open. how do i train these birds to love me as i love them, and should i keep them in seperate cages

I have a green cheeked conure who is a bit nippy but in a different way. He is fine with me and other adults, but when he sees children he freaks out. He immediately gets puffed up and trys to attack them. He also doesn’t like toes, I’m guessing he just doesn’t like little fingers and toes, but how can I get him to be nicer to children. After all he is my little sister’s bird.Thanks!

I own a pineapple green cheek conure and he likes to bite the hell out of me. I have done everything the book said to do and he stills bites me. I don’t know what to do, I love my little birdy and I don’t want him to hurt me anymore, and believe me when he bites it hurts real good.

I have a Green Cheek Conure named yoki and he enjoys chewing on my fingers ears and earings. He never seems to do it out of aggresion and i have put chew toys in his cage he’s still young so could this be a todler like behavior that will go away or would to no bite be more effective?

My husband and I have had our green-cheeked conure for 1 week now. The first day out of the cage, he bit my arms up and down and my ear. I have some pretty fresh scabs. Then last night he went after my husband’s eye and caught him right above the eye. We are considering taking him back, but I still want to give him a chance. I think that behavior modification would work well. Thank you for the website.

I just bought a pineaple conure, she is very sweet and gives me kisses all the time. but i am the only one she will interact with. when my brothers and parent go to play with her, she puffs up the feathers on her head and trys to attack them.although her bits dont break the skin, they still hurt. she rarely does this to me becasue i have spent the most time with her.but she doesnt like people touching her to much like touching her feet or back. i was wondering if you had any tips on how to stop this kind behavior?

I have a cinnimon turquoise I bought a few days ago. She is absolutely wonderful. She doesn’t bite and loves to cuddle and will come to me when I talk to her. But she has a problem with hands. She doesn’t know how to step up and its hard to teach when she runs away from your hand or jumps over it and crawls up your arm. My boyfriend and I have been working on it everyday and she’ll do it once, maybe twice in a day. But when she does she gets loads of praise.

Hi I just got a green cheek last weekend and she was fine with me when I got her at the old home but once I brought her to my house she became very aggressive towards me trying to bite me whenever she gets a chance when I took her out of the cage to get her wings clipped she bit and drew blood on two fingers I had to shake her off into the tarvel cage and once I got her to the pet store we were able to handle her with out problem and once I got her home she qwas aggressive again what do I do?

I have a pineapple green cheek conure. I just read up above about teaching to not bite. I am going to put that into work right away. I also need help in training for getting he/she to deficate in his/her cage instead of Everywhere. The advice you have on the biting I’m definitely going to try because everyone can’t stand him because he bites them when they come near. Especially when he is on me. I work a lot so my daughter and I will be training him. He was originally suppose to be her bird but attached himself to me. Please help with advice on the potty training though. Drives everyone else in the house crazy. It is a sore subject with my boyfriend and I. Help!

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